


Trust is a Five Letter Word

by FrenchBullPigs



Series: ATLA Oneshots [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Gen Fic, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, How is that not a tag, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Post-Episode: s03e14-15 The Boiling Rock, Referenced Child Abuse, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, ask to tag ig, basically those "zuko doesnt trust hakoda around his kids", cause like idk what else to say, no beta we die like men, not ship, zuko doesnt understand that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25538314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrenchBullPigs/pseuds/FrenchBullPigs
Summary: “Why do you keep my children away from me? I’ve hardly gotten any time with them at all.”That was not what Zuko was expecting, if Hakoda could tell anything from the way Zuko’s good eye widened. “What? I don’t keep your children away from you. I’m just trying to...not bother you?”~~~Or Zuko doesn't understand that Hakoda is a good parent trying his best.
Relationships: Hakoda & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: ATLA Oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1850533
Comments: 10
Kudos: 542





	Trust is a Five Letter Word

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first fic for ATLA, so be nice. I was having issues with the tags because I don't think that it has that many issues that need to be tagged, but if ya'll see any, please tell me! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Hakoda knew that Zuko didn’t trust him. Zuko knew that Hakoda knew that Zuko didn’t trust him. The only problem was that both men were too stubborn to say anything. The others guessed that something was up, due to the glares and shifty glances. Even Toph didn’t have the full story. Only Zuko did. And he wasn’t sharing. 

Of course, he wasn’t going to share! Why would he tell Hakoda (much less his children) that he didn’t trust him? That would just look like he was being shifty. Or morally grey, or whatever Sokka wanted to call it. Sokka found great joy in making fun of Zuko in various predicaments. 

But Sokka would find nothing about this situation funny. Nor would Katara. She’d just think that Zuko was doing it for attention, or he’s going back to his father’s side. And there was the problem. Not his changing of alliances, but his father. “But that’s not just your problem, that’s all of our problems now!” Zuko heard Katara say in his mind. He sighed. When had he gotten a Katara-voice in his head? 

Katara and Sokka and Hakoda and Zuko and Ozai. That was the problem. Zuko was afraid that Hakoda would hurt Sokka and Katara, would yell and hit and scream for a tiny mistake. Like Ozai did.   
So Zuko made a point to stay between them. To shift so Hakoda was always in his sight. Zuko knew that Hakoda was suspecting him. 

And that was true. Hakoda did think something was up with the Fire Nation Prince. But he didn’t know what. He wished he was on his ship. Nay, he wished he was back with his Tribe, not having to worry about a Fire Nation Prince staring at him all hours of the day, pulling his children away. Tui and La, the man hadn’t seen his kids for years, literal years and now he can’t even get a moment alone! 

The last straw was when Hakoda mentioned that he was going fishing the next day. Sokka had immediately brightened and offered to go along. Hakoda had accepted, knowing that Zuko would do everything in his power to stop the two Water Tribe men from being alone with each other. And sure enough, the next day, Zuko pulled Sokka out of bed before the sun rose (a feat that normally Hakoda would be in awe of) and asked to train. Either Sokka forgot about his promise to Hakoda or the thought of finally doing something with another boy his age was enough to get him to go with Zuko. 

But Zuko didn’t forget. Hakoda knew that much, what with the glares and obvious lack of trust. Something needed to be done. But not yet. Hakoda would pull Zuko aside later. But for now, he just had to hope that the rising tension between the two didn’t shatter the group.

The chance arose 3 weeks later. In that span of time, Hakoda had only gotten 15 minutes alone with both of his kids. Which was hard on Hakoda. But he settled for seeing them at meals and before they went to sleep. 

(Of course, Zuko didn’t like that. Hakoda was willing to bet a good amount of money that Zuko didn’t like anything, save making Hakoda angrier and angrier each day. But that was beside the point).   
“I’ll clean up from dinner,” Zuko said suddenly into the night. Katara glared at him, slightly unsure if he was making fun of her. He wasn’t. 

“Okay…” Katara said slowly. That was all it took for the tension (if you could call it that-it was more of a slight awkwardness) to break. Sokka took this as the perfect chance to make fun of Zuko doing chores.

“Ok, Zuko, to clean dishes, first you-”

“I know how to clean dishes, Sokka.” Zuko snapped half-heartedly. There wasn’t any bite in his words, but there was in his glare tossed to Hakoda, yet again. But this wasn’t a full glare. Zuko was...scared? Apprehensive? Something that wasn’t just anger. 

Hakoda waited till everyone was done and left to do their thing. He figured that was the best plan. Taking his dishes over to where Zuko was standing, Hakoda planned on what to say. If this was a war council, Hakoda had sayings on “Doing what’s right” and “It doesn’t matter what it costs”. If this was a talk with his children, he could say “Why did you think that was a good idea” and “How would you feel if that happened to you”. But Hakoda didn’t have any nifty sayings for talking to a banished Fire Nation Prince. So he was completely in the dark. 

“So,” Hakoda said, making Zuko jump. “I see you’re not a fan of me. That’s okay. I just want to hear your reasoning.” He figured at the boy would prefer if he just cut to the chase, but apparently not. Zuko looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. 

“I...don’t have a reason?” It wasn’t supposed to be a question. Zuko cursed his voice crack. Hakoda wasn’t impressed. “I mean...I didn’t think I was being rude?” Zuko tried to backtrack. “I appreciate what you’ve done for Aang.” He didn’t mention Sokka or Katara. 

“Right…” Hakoda tried not to stare as Zuko stuck his hands into the pot of water and made it steam. On the ship, hot water was something unheard of. Even in the Tribe, you would have to put the water over a campfire for hours before it would even be slightly warm. Having instantly hot water was...kinda cool. Hakoda shook his head slightly to refocus himself. “But that’s not why I came over here.”

Zuko tensed slightly. Hakoda pretended he didn’t see it. 

“Why do you keep my children away from me? I’ve hardly gotten any time with them at all.” 

That was not what Zuko was expecting, if Hakoda could tell anything from the way Zuko’s good eye widened. “What? I don’t keep your children away from you. I’m just trying to...not bother you?” Agni. Another freaking question. Zuko was going to die of embarrassment. 

“Not bother me. Tell me, do you think my children annoy me?”

“Well, it’s just that Sokka talks a lot and Katara is angry all the time and I didn’t want them to-but they’re still good people! I didn’t mean that they’re awful people, I just-” Zuko was talking over himself, faster and faster, trying to get across that he didn’t want Sokka and Katara to get hurt. Hakoda let Zuko talk himself out. 

“You think I’m going to get mad.” A statement. Hakoda tried to keep his face devoid of emotion. But how could Zuko think he would hurt brave Sokka and sweet Katara? They were all he had left. “Prince Zuko. I know you and your father didn’t get along,” That’s an understatement, Zuko thought bitterly. “But Katara and Sokka and I are different people. I’m not going to hurt them. They’re safe with me.” 

Zuko gazed at Hakoda for a long time, then nodded. “Okay. I believe you.” 

It would take a while for Zuko to completely be comfortable around Hakoda. But this was a start. And a start was okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment and tell me what you liked/didn't like, whatever! 
> 
> Come scream at me on Tumblr: [FrenchBullPigs is my main](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/frenchbullpigs) and [You-Know-It-Was-Really-Unclear is my ATLA sideblog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/you-know-it-was-really-unclear).


End file.
